#can't wait to see how they're going to do their regional form

[postnuclearwar]

Feraligatr, ready to move into his Kalosian apartment:

[greenerteacups]

Hey GT, glad to see you're back! I'm still halfway thru Lionheart (just read the world cup chapter, what a delight) and your notes got me wondering.

I'm sure you've probably answered this before but how do you manage to make the world feel so rich? I'm not that into the fandom so I don't know If there are some things fanon agreed upon or if it is your own musings about the magic world. Like Draco explaining to Hermione about portkeys or how many languages Krum speaks.

How do you decide what's important enough to get a mention? Where do you go when you need answers and Canon is not enough to provide it?

Thanks for the kind words, and for the question! It's a matter of personal taste, like anything. Some writers prefer an athletic, streamlined plot, with only as much worldbuilding as you absolutely need (how does Panem run a command economy of 4.5 million people primarily on fossil fuels when its coal district has a population of less than 10,000? fuck off! who cares! they're Y/A dystopias about a TV show where teens beat each other to death!). Some writers, on the other hand, won't bother to start the story until they know the pH of the soil in every region of the world they're writing about. I'm somewhere on the second half of the scale, in that I'll give details that aren't strictly necessary to the plot, just because I like to feel like I'm writing about a world where real, extraneous things can happen. Some details are foreshadowing; some details are Special Mouseketools that will Help Us Later; and sometimes, you just get to know a cool fact about portkeys.

I guess part of the fun of building out a world is getting to think about Everything, which is what my brain normally does. I have a pretty broad body of literature as a starting gate, so there's plenty of room to play. E.g., when I started writing Krum, I thought about how he's not super fluent in English in canon, and that naturally made me ask why, because he clearly has taken English, so either he only started lessons recently or it hasn't been a priority for him; and then I went "wait, what's his first language? Bulgarian, right? But Durmstrang isn't — hang on—" and then I pulled up an actual map of Europe, which led me to realize that he wouldn't likely be speaking his first language at Durmstrang, which means he already had to become bilingual just to start his wizarding education, and that explains part of why he doesn't have a ton of time/effort to spare for a third language, plus he'd probably have a translator available whenever he traveled with a team because he's a B.F.D. — etc., etc. And then you keep thinking about that until you remember that you're supposed to be writing a fic, and you scramble to get back to doing that. Only now, you have worldbuilding! Congrats.

To try for an even halfway useful answer to your question: worldbuilding becomes most important when it creates limitations, because limitations define your characters and give them chances to develop/reveal themselves. So the details of portkeys become important because they explain the limitations of magical travel, which is a big nebulous ??? in the original series, since the introduction of teleportation via Apparating means that all other forms of transportation become inefficient by comparison. It also means the limitations introduced by travel — that is, not all characters can be in all places at once — also go away, because anyone can be anywhere immediately. From a narrative perspective, this sucks massive horse ass. Hence: I dumped a shit ton of limitations on Apparation (i.e., (1) it requires a ton of energy, (2) it's really fucking hard, (3) it's really fucking dangerous, (4) it's more of both the farther away you're going, (5) it's more of both the more people you take with you, (6) you can't Apparate without a clear destination in mind which means (7) you need to have been there already, and so (8) some people prefer not to do it). Hence, I also put limitations on portkeys (i.e., they have to be set up well in advance, you need to identify out both destinations precisely beforehand, and the calculations are difficult to do). Those limitations, and the Watsonian explanations you create for them, are your worldbuilding. They're what make the world feel real, because they give it grit and character. They give you a more complete sense of what you can and cannot do.

The rest of it is taste and preference, really; it's what interests you, and what parts of the world you want to explore. That's going to be unique to every author, and that's the beauty of worldbuilding — it reflects the parts of the world that you like to think about.

[exoticalmonde]

Arknights - Zwillingstürme im Herbst Event (Day 1)

HEY, Zwillingstürme im Herbst is here and I CANNOT pronounce a single of the German words they are using, I think I might just end myself here. For some reason, the update was loading extremely slowly, but it was long enough to get us through those pesky 10 minutes we had to wait until the server was open.

On the flip side, we have a bunch of cool new things to look at and a reason to rewatch the trailers and cinematics + review the music that comes with the event.

Warning: The following content goes over obvious stuff about the event and the characters that I plan on working on + my personal ideas for who is useful in what way.

At the END of the post is a guide for the music tunes you need for the interrogation event. As far as I have gotten at least.

Since it's Arknights' sixth celebration event we expect a LOT of content, a long story, probably a daily check-in for missions inside the event itself and much more. The banner for Viviana and Virtuosa Arturia (being the Limited operator) lasts a whole three weeks, with every day carrying a single free pull.

Oh the joys of saving for Zuo Le and Logos knowing that I really do want Viviana is a bittersweet sensation. I'm going to get Lessing today at least, so we can be content the husband team stays strong.

Not to forget the free 10-pull we get along, which got me a single Baseline.

---

When it comes to the videos and PVs we got, they're actually an insane amount in comparison to other events. Of course, the anniversary has something to do with that, but it's also because the characters we are getting and the story that is meant to unfold is very important to the Arknights world.

This is the official trailer that introduces us to:

all the new characters,

flashing us with the gorgeous medal set,

the skins that are coming out WITH the anniversary event,

the new characters in the red ticket shop

operator archives for: Czerny, Rosa, Diamante, Santalla, Shalem

modules for Mudrock, Penance and Vulcan

+ Lessing, Baseline, Nearl Alter, Bagpipe,

new furniture sets

Naturally, there is no event without the PV. This is from the POV of Viviana.

The event teaser is subsequently the introduction video as you enter the event.

I watched this just now for the first time and it's equally horrifying to see the Aegir, charming to see her get along with kids, saddening since I know this is her at her mother's funeral and also it makes me absolutely insane to think that I feel anything but resentment for her and everything she's done to Ebenholz and Kreide.

I know she is going to make a huge mess in Leithanien again, I know it.

I feel a little smitten for the reason we are getting an ENTIRE introduction to the University. I can't even imagine how it's going to come to play inside the story itself. But I am glad that there's more embracing of the regional tongues now.

Fondly, I was reminded the other day how I started playing when there was only the Chinese and the Japanese (and Korean?) voiceover. Now there is German, Italian, Russian along with the English.

How... Unfortunate, we might never be able to hear French.

As far as I'm familiar, I think Ripples is meant to be the music for both the Candleknight and Arturia.

UPDATE: OF COURSE ARTURIA WOULD HAVE HER MUSIC VIDEO COME OUT TODAY WHEN I MADE THE POST ABOUT IT YESTERDAY BUT WHAT ELSE DO I EXPECT, HERE YOU GO

---

There is this video that isn't on YT but it's on the Arknights Twitter page, so I'm going to link it anyways for anybody who wants to see enamel pin-like designs of Bassline, Arturia and the others. It's basically character showcase but in some different form.

---

I love the character intros but more than anything I enjoy reading Travel Guides because this means these places are going to be super important to the lore itself and I am EXCITED!!!

---

Most of the enemies are very easy to deal with as long as you know the base mechanic and don't get too taken away by the music. The ones with a purple sphere on their heads need EXCITED music to neutralize their special skill and those with a yellow star need MELANCHOLIC music to calm down.

Long story short, the Tuning Nodes need to be all active at the same time and the place where you see that jellyfish shield is the place you need to avoid placing operators because they just won't do anything for the Node itself.

Attack Speed gained from the Exciting music is stackable for your operators. I don't know to what point, but Dr. Pinkie was having a blast learning this last night.

---

Speaking of the characters and Baseline specifically, he's a Lupo from Leithanien, appointed in the year 1100 (the year the story is set in as well) as a sort of mediator between RI and the Leithanien Imperial court. He's uninfected and his role is Defender, specifically Guardian aka Medic Defender. Real name Michael Wolfgang, tiniest Schatz because he's only 160cm tall and pretty much the same size as Greyy-alter me thinks. Birthday is on the 16th of July.

From what I imagine, I can use him instead of Nearl/Gummy or Spot since his Skill 1 heals operators only if they are under 50% and his Skill 2 stops attacking and concentrates on healing + gives the ally a shield.

I haven't done the speed/strength comparisons to Nearl but VS Gummy, his skill 1 charge is 6 seconds and the difference is only 20% additional healing at M3 for a cost of an additional 1DP at all E stages.

To me, that's good enough to exchange honestly if you're looking for more tankiness due to his Talent.

If we overlook the cost of maxing out a 5-star in comparison to a 4-star.

AND NOT TO MENTION HIS TOKEN IS--- I mean, if you insist I have it, sure, but I feel like the mouthpiece of any instrument is important to the player in their own way... right?

---

Lessing is the free 6-star operator you get in the event by competing the missions in Herzenfolgen. It's unlockable after you finish stage ZT-2 and it comes with 3 (technically 4) characters you can get event materials from including Lessing's Potential.

He's a Guard, specifically a Dreadnought (or as it's also popular - a Duelist Guard) whom I immediately am looking at as FINALLY there is something I can use instead of Melantha when I get asked for someone of that type. You'd think that out of all the guards I do have already there's going to be someone who does as much damage as Melantha and equal in health, but no.

Since Mel is a 3-star character and only reaches level 55 E1, I'm going to compare them like this: Lessing does more damage, has more health and defence than Melantha. His Redeployment time is 10 seconds more than her though.

Skill-wise Lessing's Skill 1 is an Offensive Recovery (charges itself when hitting enemies) like Hoederer's that does additional damage on the charged strike sans health regen.

Skill 2 is like a buff on his first talent: Pain Focus (this is at E1) - When blocking, take 20% less Physical and Arts damage from enemies not blocked by this unit. So that means that at lvl 7 of his skill you apply the maths that I am NOT going to math myself. At least not while Dr. Pinkie is sleeping to check them for me. When deployed, 1st Talent effect increased to 2x, ATK +35%, and attacks become 2-hit combos. His Skill 3 is what people get him for: Become immune to Negative Statuses, HP +80%, and attacks deal 180% ATK as Physical damage when attacking a blocked target Skill can be used when Operator is affected by a Negative Status, removing the status, but dealing 600 Arts damage to self.

So far as I can read while my Lessing is cooking in the training room - yes, you might be able to kill him if you use his skill and he's under 600HP.

My little Hoederer, big sword - big damage wielder. The only saving grace for Melnatha is that she's 13 DP at max potential while Lessing is 21. That's a lot to consider.

And of course, he is a cutie patootie in his letter, I'm crying.

---

Here is the guide offered by the Twitter page for the Herzenfolgen because otherwise, I could not grasp a single word of the explanations inside the event itself.

To explain it in simple terms:

Every day you get 3 people who will tell you a story and according to the information they give you, usually the important part is in red, you have to figure out what sort of emotion they have felt and then you have to align them to the 'desire' they have.

Making a mistake 2-3 times gives you the emotion and the 'desire' so it's not impossible to figure out, but it's a lot of experimenting as well until you get both right. And the notes you get are exhaustable, so you need to farm for them to know.

Dr. Pinkie also told me yesterday that the cards you DO manage to use also disappear.

Whenever you complete the day you get an Authorization Warrant to unlock the case-related characters and then you get a pot for Lessing every time you finish those.

You get 2 a day actually I think. Since I already managed to squeeze 4.

Here's all the emotions since some of the guides I found kind of misnamed the emotions and I had to spend a long while staring to get it to actually work.

TO GET THE FINAL ONE: DIE REISE (Tomorrow's Opus) you just have to complete all of the main interrogation nodes.

With that, I wish you good luck, enjoy the music of Zwillingstürme and I hope that you enjoy the music as much as I do. My favourite theme so far is 'Under the Spires' and 'Anger's Opus'.

WHICH, I almost forgot, YOU CAN FIND ON SPOTIFY AS WELL, IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!

[front-facing-pokemon]

sandaconda SNIFFFF

this is true

sorry about the radio silence apart from the queued posts for the past few days, folks. i'm gonna drop all these asks and then give you a bit of an explanation, as well as a possible read on the future of the blog, down at the bottom of this post, if you care to read it

everyone loves appletun..! i used one to beat the champion in my first ever run of swsh because i thought it was so cute. and grass/dragon is a fun typing..! just one more way to be 4x weak to ice my belovèd

i don't even remember what this is in reference to unfortunately. this is the way to get to the grass gym from motostoke, i think..! though you have to go through a route to get to the mines

y'know, i'm not sure! perhaps if i knew what it was based on, i could tell you better

let them have it :/ they deserve it

okay. hi. you've reached the bottom. i have a confession! i have not been able to update the queue in like. a week

my commitment to uploading every pokémon in natdex order already fell off a little bit when the galar pokédex was out of order compared to the national pokédex and i was choosing to include regional forms in "natdex order" by using their placement in regional dexes. now that i've reached all the regional evolutions in the natdex, i've found that my previous methods for getting models and getting them to work are not necessarily panning out. this is, of course, for one specific pokémon: galarian farfetch'd. i believe this applies to the rest of the galarian forms that i have yet to upload, as well, as i can't seem to find models (that i know how to work with) anywhere on the internet. if you want to see the most recent state i was able to get galarian farfetch'd into, then here:

it's fucked up. you may have noticed that i also didn't post galarian corsola before cursola. that's partially because i forgot it existed, and partially because i didn't have its model so i didn't know it existed because of that

i don't really know what to do here. i haven't queued up a single pokémon in about a week, and even then, the pokémon at the end of the queue you'll notice are getting progressively more and more fucked up textures-wise just because of how difficult they're getting when i can't find the proper models and i have to throw something toegether in like an hour. which! this blog never used to take me an hour! it used to be a few minutes out of my morning, at most. now mornings are taking me upwards of two hours just to get these motherfuckers working—and now i've reached a point where i can't get them working at all

from my perspective, i have two options, neither of which i want to do. option one is to just post the pokémon that i have and can get working, skipping ones that i don't have or can't get working. option two is to just go on indefinite hiatus until i can get a hold of the models and get them working. i like neither of these options!

i suppose there's a secret third option, which is that i start using in-game screenshots like i almost did for phantump that one time, but those aren't the easiest to procure when i can't perfectly manipulate the model and the camera to get the angles that have become the style of this blog

i don't want to quit when i'm this close to the end (and especially when there's so many of you waiting for your favorite pokémon), but taking two hours out of my morning to get one pokémon working is becoming a chore i relent doing, and i've become unable to do it at all now that i can't get the models to render correctly

i don't have a solution to put at the bottom of the post here! i don't have a way to say "so because of this, i'll now be doing blahblahblah" because i don't have a blahblahblah that i can do. i don't know what the best course of action is, because i have never really encountered this kind of problem on the blog before. the hiatus i took back in 2020 was for completely unrelated reasons, and like 99.9% of you weren't even here for that. and sure, only like 20 folks read these asks, let alone down this far into them, but for those of you that don't, you'll just be missing out and confused. for those of you that do, i thank you for sticking around this long. this is not goodbye, and i don't even want it to be a temporary goodbye—but it is me saying that there are 18 pokémon left in the queue and i don't know how to add any more

the best solution is probably just to post the pokémon that i can and hope the models i can't get aren't anyone's favorites. how do we all feel about that? i could always try in-game screenshots, but that'd be such a big change in styling and visuals that i dunno if i wanna go through with it. i'm at an impasse here, and i've been avoiding even talking about it because technically most of the followers of this blog couldn't care less if there was a real individual behind it—they're just here for the silly pokémon images. but, y'know, hi! here i am, i'm a real individual running this blog, and it's not that easy anymore!

[akuaya-eng]

(Main story) Chapter 1 - Episode 1

- THE CURSE PREVADING COLCHICUM CASTLE -

Tuner

...?

???

...some...day...

Tuner

This voice...

???

This... life... surely...

Tuner

Sounds like they're in pain... Who are you...?

???

I pray... for this--...

----------

Fiori

...ner! Hey, Tuner!

Tuner

!

Dia

...

Espada

What are you daydreaming about? You're in front of Lord Dia.

Fiori

Maybe you're tired? It's no surprise. You've been all over the regions, sharing the power of purification. Has anyone offered Tuner some tea or anything? He looks exhausted.

Espada

You act as if you are exempt from this.

Fiori

Of course I do. I've experienced it myself. The discomfort of the first day at Colchicum Castle was overwhelming. Who here has a CONCRETE plan for Tuner's accommodation? Raise your hand!

Dia

......

Espada

.........

Fiori

See! I'm the only one concerned about Tuner.

Dia

He can use one of the empty rooms. There are plenty available. If he can't find one, he can sleep wherever he likes.

Fiori

Prince, come on. This child is an important guest. It's different from my time. Shouldn't you be more considerate?

Espada

Silence, Fiori. You are a mere freeloader yourself. Do you think you can comment on how guests are treated?

Fiori

Of course, I'll comment! If we're going to live together, we're like family.

Dia

Family? Don't make me laugh. This one is just my possession. An object cannot be family.

Fiori

Prince, really...

Dia

...There's a room that used to be a guest room beyond this courtyard. It's suitable for you. I'll guide you. Follow me, Tuner. (leaves)

Tuner

...Yes.

Fiori

That's more like it.

----------

Fiori

This path seems darker than before. Wasn't it brighter when I passed through here?

Espada

Indeed, it's strange. Perhaps the lights are broken, or--

Espada

!

Dia

...A curse manifestation.

Fiori

It looks like a curse formed around the streetlight. Curses causing damage everywhere... So this castle might have fewer safe places left, right?

Espada

This castle is more overrun with curses than the outside world. Reckless actions could be fatal.

Fiori

Scary, scaryyy~. I'm amazed I live here.

Dia

......

Fiori

A path you could take yesterday is blocked by curses today, or a favorite spot is suddenly overrun with curses... Things like that are normal here lately. Surprisingly, you get used to it.

Espada

If you dislike it, you're free to leave anytime.

Fiori

Hehe, that's a separate issue~. Besides, if I leave, who will spar with you?

Espada

I only train with you because you're not strong enough to protect Lord Dia. Don't act like I enjoy it. It gives the wrong impression.

Fiori

Really? I thought you enjoyed it. You look so lively when we're sparring.

Espada

You--

Dia

.........

Espada

...Is something wrong?

Dia

No... It's just this streetlight...

----------

Castle maid

Lord Dia.

Castle guard

Your Highness, good day. Where are you headed?

???

Dia, are you done with your studies?

----------

Dia

...Oh!

Espada

Lord Dia? Perhaps you're unwell...

Dia

...It's nothing. No need to worry.

Espada

...Understood.

Dia

(thinking) ...That voice... No, it was just an illusion from the past... She and everyone else... no longer call my name kindly...

Espada

We can avoid this path and go around. For today—

Dia

It'd be a hassle. We'll go through here.

Espada

Wait!

Dia

What is it, Espada?

Espada

Surely you haven't forgotten? We have a new power. With it, we don't need to touch the curses recklessly.

Dia

...That's right.

Espada

Lord Dia...

Dia

—Espada, Fiori. Are you ready?

Espada

Of course.

Fiori

A little warm-up might be good ♪

Dia

Let's go.

[eyeslikewatercoolers]

Partners for the Night (Camine-Magical Girl AU)

Here's the first part of the Magical Girl AU, since a lot of y'all were interested in it. I would love any feedback for this AU!!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Camden had a great career as a magical girl, but despite the past year, she was not the one to give all of it up yet.

She's hit a road bump after her long-term partner was taken out by the most powerful witch in the city, and hasn't gotten any luck in getting a replacement. Although she's tried to work with seemingly endless magical girls in the region, nobody has been working at her level.

But she is not giving up yet, she still has her job to do for tonight.

Camden looked in the full-length mirror in the locker room of her team's headquarters. She was securing her ribbons on her bullet-proof leotard, already transformed into her magical girl form. She heard the door open behind her, and turned around to see one of the support team members, Deja, step inside and walk over to where Camden was standing. Camden saw that Deja was holding two pairs of trackers and earpieces in her hands.

"Why did you bring two sets? I only need one." She asked Deja, while reaching out to grab one of the sets.

"Well, good evening to you too, Cam." Deja said in a dry tone. She passed over a tracker and earpiece before continuing "You aren't going alone tonight, you know we can't allow that." Camden busied herself with attaching the tracker on the other side of her magic brooch (which allowed her to transform) and inserting her earpiece.

"I've been doing this for almost a decade. I'm sure I'll be fine by myself for tonight." She crossed her arms as she pointed out. "Also, how did you find another girl for me so fast? The girl you gave me last week ran off as soon as Denali found us!" Camden lost track of all the girls she got paired with over the few months since her old partner got taken out by the infamous ice witch.

"Don't worry, we found just the right girl for you." They heard the door open again and looked over to see Kerri walk into the locker room, appearing to be talking to someone in the hallway just before.

Kerri led a magical girl with bright orange hair by the hand over to Camden's locker. "Right this way, and you are going to do great tonight!" Kerri smiled at the girl, as the girl looked around the room and at Camden. Both of the support staff members glanced at each other, before moving together to the door, before Kerri called out a "Good luck!" and snuck out the room.

Camden looked the girl up and down at her outfit and the weapon she was holding 'Great, another floral magical girl. They're practically trying to mock me now.' She thought bitterly.

The girl put out a hand and was about to introduce herself, but Camden quickly interrupted her. "Listen, we probably won't last long as partners, so I'll make this quick. Follow my lead, don't cause a scene, and when Kerri or Deja tell you to do something, you do it. Got it?" She reached over to attach the girl's tracker and handed over the spare earpiece.

She turned to the doorway, and added "The full moon is out, so we need to get out there now." She walked into the long hallway and heard the girl's heels on the lament floor behind her until they got outside, to the roof of the building.

"Wait, I never got your name. Kerri just told me that you needed help tonight." The girl's head tilted, and Camden saw her green eyes glimmer slightly in the moonlight.

"Fine, if you think that's important. It's Camden. And yours?"

"Jasmine."

A few hours into their shift was relatively quiet, compared to what Camden was typically used to. They were able to take care of a couple demons that were lurking outside a local office building, but hadn't spotted much else. They hadn't seen any dark spirits and they were told nothing was appearing on the radar so far. Camden and Jasmine were sitting on the roof of a tall building, legs dangling over the edge.

"How long have you been a magical girl?" Jasmine was the first to break the silence.

"I've been working for about a ten years now. I could do this by myself by this point, you know." Camden responded, although Deja's laughter in her earpiece told her differently. She ignored it and asked "What about yourself?"

Jasmine's fingers ran over one of the long petals on her weapon, a giant flower that spun. "I finished training a couple months ago. It took me a little longer than the others in my class. They said I was 'too impulsive' and 'not good at communicating' to give me a permeant partner." she explained as she looked over to Camden.

Hearing this information, Camden refused to believe that Jasmine was the 'right girl' as her partner for much longer than that night. She graduated two months before and the instructors couldn't trust her with her own partner? Jasmine spoke up again, "Did you get a permanent partner when you finished your training?

Before Camden had to explain her most painful memory, Kerri's voice from the earpiece stopped her. "There's something coming up on the radar. It's about two blocks south of you guys. We aren't sure what it is, it looks like it might be a witch." the two looked at each other before Camden jumped up and held out her ribbons.

"We're on it." She saw Jasmine stood up next to her and held out her giant spinning flower over the building's edge. They nodded at each other as Jasmine stepped onto the flower, and Camden attached one ribbon to a nearby lamppost. They quickly left the rooftop, heading to the direction the threat was coming from.

They both arrived to a dark alley, as Camden retracted her ribbons and Jasmine picked up her spinning flower. They gave each other a knowing look, before carefully examining the alley and scanning their surroundings. They slowly walked down the alley, when they had noticed a row of scattered flowers on the ground. Camden picked one up and examined it. It looked like a hibiscus flower, before the flower turn to a dark dust in her hand.

They walked closer, and noticed the more of the flowers were swirling in the dark dust, surrounding a dark figure at a dead end. The figure had a long dark ponytail and sharp green eyes that glowed through the dark dust. Jasmine whispered to her "Any idea who that is?" Camden shook her head.

They heard Deja through their earpieces, her voice sounding nervous. "Um, guys? I think it might be a good idea for you both to get out of there."

Jasmine spoke up "Why? Shouldn't we be fighting her?"

The witch slowly walked up to them, and gave an eerie smile, before speaking in a slight distorted voice, "Aloha, my darlings. I see you have come to visit me tonight."

Kerri's voice broke through next, "You can't fight her, because that's my mom."

Camden knew part of the story of Kerri and her mom, when Kerri joined their team a few years ago. Kerri was the only team member that was a full mortal but went through support team training in her late teens. She didn't have much choice, since she was forced to watch her mother, Sasha, get corrupted by an evil spirit and turn into a witch. Sasha was her only family, and then she was left all alone. Kerri once said that she avoided her mother at all costs, both in and out of her work. She knew by herself was powerless against Sasha, and watching her mother hurt her team members would be unbearable for Kerri.

Plus, there was only way to end a witch's corruption, was that they would have to kill her.

Camden grabbed Jasmine by the wrist, and exclaimed "That's Sasha, we need to run, now!" They both ran down the alley, the flowers and dark dust catching up behind them. Camden ducked them both behind a dumpster, as Jasmine was leaning over towards her other side. Camden wasn't sure at first what her partner was doing by not ducking down, until Jasmine held up her flower weapon and shielded them both from razor-sharp flower petals shooting from Sasha's hands.

"I've got us covered, get a head start on getting out of here. Do you think I could use one of your ribbons to get out?" Jasmine turned to Camden as she directed her plan. Camden felt taken a back since she was used to being the dominant of her partners, but nodded as Jasmine continued. "Perfect, let one hang down when you get to the roof, and I'll grab it and we can escape by the rooftops. Now go!"

Camden knew there wasn't much time for a Plan B, so she aimed her ribbons to a lamppost, and shot herself upwards. She felt a couple of the petals barely break her skin on her legs, as she jumped from the lamppost to the rooftop. As she threw down a ribbon for the other girl, she noticed Jasmine squinting through the small hole at the center of her spinning flower. She looked like she was staring at something on Sasha, but she was to far up to be sure. Jasmine grabbed the ribbon, and stood on her flower as it started to spin, propelling herself up to the rooftop.

Both girls caught thier breath as they were in a safe spot, away from Sasha. The moon was lowering to the horizon, and both knew that their shift was coming to a close. "Let's go back to headquarters, before the sun is up." Camden said as she started walking.

The girls entered through the doorway of the headquarters as the sun started peering over the horizon. They walked down the hallway, as Jasmine looked over to the other girl, and asked "Hey, Camden? Can I ask you something?"

Camden nodded, and answered "Sure, what do you need?"

"Do all witches always have a white spot on them? When I was waiting for you, I saw Sasha for a second, and she had a white glow on her. But I only saw it for a few seconds. And I don't remember learning about anything like that in training. So is that like a normal thing on witches?" Jasmine rambled on, as Camden tried her best keeping up with listening.

"What white glow are you-" She was interrupted as Kerri poked her head into the hallway and walked up to the pair.

"You guys are back! Really great work tonight, honestly. Jasmine, do you want to follow me so Deja and I can talk to you?" Jasmine agreed, as she looked at Camden, before getting pulled into a separate room.

Camden continued down the hallway, as she still wasn't sure what Jasmine was talking about before. She walked into the locker room, pressed her brooch to begin to transform back into her human self. She felt her hair fall out of the bun, and return back to long, ginger ringlets. Her height returned to her shorter stature, and her eyes lost their glimmery effect. She wore the clothes she was wearing earlier that day, as she grabbed her backpack from her locker, and pinned her brooch next to her iron on patch of the Union Jack. Camden normally wouldn't be in her human form around her partner, but she would only know Jasmine for that night, so who cares?

The door opened and a younger woman with honey blonde hair and deep green eyes walked in. She held an orange flower brooch in her hand, as she walked past Camden to a nearby locker. By the look of the brooch, she assumed that this was Jasmine who was also in her human form. Before either of them said anything, Deja and Kerri walked into the locker room. "You guys did really good tonight. Jasmine was really able to keep with you out there." Deja said as she passed a lock to Jasmine, who let out a quick thank you.

Camden nodded in agreement as she closed her locker door, and said "Yeah, she did. Well, it was nice meeting you, and thanks for coming out to be my partner for tonight. Maybe I'll see you again soon?" Camden started to wave goodbye, before Kerri put a hand on her shoulder.

"Wait, we have news for you both, before you leave." Kerri announced to both of them, beaming. Camden looked across to Jasmine, who was slipping on a pair of glasses. She was holding her open backpack in front of her, resting on the bench. Her brooch was pinned in the front, sitting next to a heart-shaped trans flag button. Both her and Jasmine looked straight at Kerri, waiting for her to go on.

Kerri smiled and clapped her hands together and said "You two are now an official magical girl duo!"

Camden knew this was inevitable getting a permeant partner before retirement. But she was not expecting to get partnered with a girl that barely passed her magical girl training two months ago.

[quartings]

Looking back on X&Y's release 10 years ago...

I still remember queueing up in line for the XY release day literally a whole decade ago- my brother, dad, and one of my best friends were with me and we all went out to Krispy Kreme afterwards- I evolved my first Spewpa there to see which regional Vivillon I had!

Nowadays I can't even imagine pre-ordering a Pokemon game, since I have to wait and see if they perform decently, have enough content in them to justify the $60USD price tag, and whether their DLC is good if not. I've become an old, jaded, beaten-down adult since then, haha...

But enough negativity for now- there are so many good things XY had that we should acknowledge!

Fairies are one of the biggest- we've had them for 10 YEARS now, everyone! Remember when they released the XY demo before the game launch and everyone was hitting Sylveon with everything to see how the new type matched up with everything? And now, Fairy has been paired up with all but two of the other types! They've also become the most OP type now (which is an issue they were made to stop) but it could always be worse! Who knows, maybe in 10 more years, the type chart might be unrecognizable!

They even managed to model and animate over 700 Pokemon on a handheld game, plus all their extra forms! Nowadays, Pokemon games can't manage to do that for even 500 Pokemon on launch.

Mega Evolution was the first battle gimmick ever introduced, and to this day it still remains so much better than the others that we're all still hoping and praying it comes back. I know there were some qualms that mostly OP and popular Pokemon got megas, but naturally the solution shouldn't be "No Megas"- it should be "More Megas"! And we all know someday we're going to have to raid Gamefreak's vault for their Mega Flygon concept art- we know it's out there!! Anyways, I'm glad Megas still get respect in spinoffs- Pokemon GO, Mystery Dungeon, Smash Bros, etc. It gives me hope that one day they really will return.

But the more negative things about XY need to be addressed too- while the games themselves were good, a lot of people rightfully agree that they were the beginning of many declines for the games.

The extremely low difficulty for no reason- NPCs and bosses having miniscule teams with less than 4 moves, rarely any held items and a poorly-made level curve. I can't think of anyone before who thinks the games before were "too hard" or that they're now "just right". To be fair, they've remedied this every now and again with actual challenging bosses (Totems and Ultra Necrozma, BDSP Cynthia, Volo, Team Star Bosses, Sada/Turo, Kieran, and the Ogre Clan) but I do hope this issue gets fully resolved one day. It's not fun playing through 90% of the games mindlessly clicking through the same highlighted "super effective" button over and over.

The "overly friendly rival" problem that first started in XY has finally been fixed though- while Gens 6-8 suffered a bit from it, Gen 9 doesn't just have decent rival characters- Nemona, Arven, Penny, Carmine, and Kieran have been some of my favorite Pokemon characters ever!

The lack of postgame areas and things to do first started in XY. While Looker and Emma's story was great, it didn't offer much of a challenge and there was barely anything to do afterwards. And nowadays when we do get substantial postgames in Pokemon they're paid DLC. And as long as we're getting DLC from now on, can we PLEASE have one that contains a Battle Frontier, please???

Mythicals no longer having their own areas and quests also started in XY- so many unfinished areas in the game that should've gone to them.

Kalos is the only main Pokemon region to only exist in one iteration so far- all others were expanded upon with remakes, sequels, third versions, ultra versions, or DLC. I do hope in maybe 5 years or so we do get XY remakes that'll finally do Kalos justice.

Another problem that eventually got fixed is small amounts of new Pokemon- I remember being in total disbelief that Gen 6 only had 72 new Pokemon, waiting for more to get announced someday. But with Gen 9, we finally have generations containing well over 100 Pokemon again, which is a massive relief!

And one more major underrated change that Gen 6 brought to Pokemon- it's the first one to ever have a worldwide release! I still remember spending most of Gen 5 learning Japanese names of all the new Pokemon, moves, characters, etc while waiting for BW's English release. But nowadays we can all enjoy a new generation's launch around the world at the same time! That's another thing to be grateful for!

But yeah, in these last 10 years so many things have changed and many others have stayed the same- for the Pokemon franchise and for my own life! While not all of it has been perfect, it still blows me away how far we've come, and how much more we need to improve on! I was still a nerdy little kid who didn't know how to draw digitally when these games came out- and now I'm an adult who makes animated shorts and works at an animation production company!

I have no clue if I'll be ready in 2026 for SM's 10th anniversary and the 30th anniversary of the franchise overall! Maybe everything will be better or it'll have gotten so much worse. Either way, I'm happy to have made it this far with you all and can't wait to make a similar post for the 10th anniversary of this blog, too!

[titanomarchy]

ASA: Scorched Earth sessions 2 & 3

Session 2 was fairly uneventful. Session 3 is mostly resource harvesting and base maintenance.

I found and tamed an adult Ceratosaurus (C. Punctura) this morning. The process of taming them is interesting. You have to extract the toxin from their spines, mixing it with blood that is then fed to one of your creatures. As a Cerato attacks your drugged creature, the Cerato gets drugged from their own venom. Once its fully intoxicated, you then hand-feed them meat. That part had me on edge. I wasn't sure how long that state would last, and I definitely didn't have enough of the serum to do so again. But it did last enough, and now I have a powerful ally. I'm borrowing its essence, both to level it and keep it safe until I can find it a mate.

Fun fact, the Cerato- part of Ceratosaurus is from the same root as keratin.

I've got the outside of the house more or less situated, just a few more things to add. I've got some small patios and benches to relax and enjoy the terrain as best as possible. I'm rearranging the crafting stations for better flow, though I won't be able to move the fabricator or the forge anytime soon. Metal collection for the industrial forge is almost complete. I'll have to find a good place for it though, those things are huge.

I used the form of the Cerato to use the dunes to travel to the Blue obelisk. Killed a sandworm along the way, got attacked by a few rock elementals. They're essentially golems, but lie in wait disguised as boulders. Cerato can't effectively deal with them, their stony hide is too tough. I did see a mountainous region with plenty of wild Ceratos, but I'm afraid I didn't mark it down on my map. I essentially traveled in as straight of a line as I could from Blue back home to Green. I did get enough spines to make another infusion though, so that's a plus.

I found out that the Titanomyrma queen is a surprisingly good mount for harvesting. She's fast and can fly with good control. It does mean taking her away from the nest though. I harvested a bunch of cactus sap to make more clay later, stuck it in the fridge to preserve it as best as I can.

Finished up this session with some fishing. I've been using leech blood I pillaged from the bandits. Eventually my supply will be used up though. I might be able to get more from the sandworms. Or more pillaging. I also have sap I can use, so no real concerns there.

Session 3

Spent most of the time so far writing the previous section and letting the ore reserves finish refining. Need that metal, and I didn't leave enough fuel for when I was away.

Hold on, there's a terror bird outside the window. It didn't do any lasting damage, but that was annoying.

Going to use up some extra resources and make some gunpowder. Can't make bullets though- that takes metal. I do need to go harvest sand to make that clay. I think I'll finish up the outside, then start on a second floor. Maybe I'll put the industrial forge there, keep it safe from the sandstorms.

Another terror bird tried the thing where crows pull on the tails of other animals to mess with them, but to one of my Leonis. Oof. That bird is so dead. And now another bandit raid. I was getting suspicious that they haven't been around in a while. My Leonis pride should take care of them. Maybe I'll get another titanomyrma dedicated to defending the area. I'll have to pillage to get the required materials though.

Had an Ovis sheep walk right up to my doorstep. Fortunately I had exactly one of the item I needed to tame it. (See above about pillaging). Not that shearing sheep is particularly useful in a desert...

Honestly, I've been spending so much time writing this I'm not sure I'm going to get much done today. Gunpowder done, I should have just enough metal to build the industrial forge. Making clay right now to finish out the building. I should move my crops off of the roof to make room for the forge.

When I said before that Titanomyrma was great for going harvesting, I understated. Was able to fly out and gather a huge sum of ore. And the ant queen that I tamed wasn't too impressive of a specimen.

Went to harvest wood and got another bandit raid. Got leech blood for fishing though, so its not too bad. I suppose I could put out the sign that stops their attacks, but its very convenient to have supplies delivered right to my door.

I had the idea to recruit some of the humans here, the ones skilled with bows. I remembered seeing plentiful villages out in the dunes. But when I went out there, I was attacked by not one, not two, but FIVE worms. Cerato dealt with them easily.

I've got plenty of leech blood, and I don't want to waste it. Off to go fishing.

[I know I can get the ability to build trains and railway tracks if I buy the Bob's Tall Tales DLC, but I wonder what that's like before I buy]

[Stress from work, and lack of sleep, has caused me to build up quite a lot of fatigue. Ugh.]

[handmedownpocketpussy]

I will see a somewhat level headed post and then the OP reblogged additions including such hits as:

Not being able to differentiate the state of Israel and all Jews

Cheering for Hamas... who have also terrorised Palestinians for decades

Being unable to differentiate 'speaking out against the IDFs atrociites' and 'calling for a new shoah'

Spreading lies such as 'all Israelies support the IDF and have vacation homes in other countries'

And so many more!

I can't say I'm surprised, I've been bitching for years now about the way the internet feeds people information in the form of rapid quick headlines, and boiling things down in meme format in lieu of news, being the cause of extreme black and white thinking-- not to mention creating an allergy to spending more than a couple seconds doing any amount of research on anything.

It's frustrating to be worried for my fellow Jews in more antisemitic regions of the world using the acts of the Israeli government as a reason to attack their synagogues (I'm lucky where I am)

It's frustrating to see those same worries placed on par with the actual struggle against occupation and genocide of my Gazan cousins

It's frustrating to check in with my Palestinian friends and family in the West Bank and the Palestinian diaspora who are stressed, depressed, and feeling uncomfortable talking to their Jewish friends and family because they're worried we will turn into the rabid pro IDF people they see online

It's frustrating to be stressed out on Shabbat worried that the rabbi or chazzan will say something fucked up about Palestine or spread israeli propaganda that has been debunked days ago

I wish very much that we could focus on condemning what Israel is doing (collective punishment, using white phosphorous, asking the impossible of Gazans such as 'evacuate to the South', not allowing useful amounts of aid in, etc.) and supporting our Gazan cousins, but instead everyone is screaming about how a bunch of Israeli civilians deserved to be killed? How Jews ruin every country we go to? How it's impossible for us to live with harmony with anyone? (dogwhistles have never been so loud)

Here I thought we all agreed human life is precious, and shit ass governments and their war hawk natures were the problem; guess not.

I'm in no way ignorant to the historical context, either. I understand how Hamas came to power, I understand the nakbah, I understand that something horrible was brewing. Critically, I also understand Bibi's government was HOPING for something like this to happen. They, like Bush 2's government in '01, were WAITING for an excuse for an invasion. Neither government set up for civilians to die, but they certainly managed to twist it to their own uses both times

We can't fall for that justification trash (for some: fall for it again)

Stop this thinking of our team vs. their team. We have to focus on the humans currently being slaughtered and how to stop it. I'm tired. My family is tired. My community is tired. But we're going to do everything we can to put our wee piece of sand to make change, I hope people get off their high horses, declaring who has good vs bad takes, and start fundraising, and educating, and protesting.

This isn't a fucking game

A lot of you are NOT beating the antisemitism allegations.

[ralts-not-ralts]

@thingismyson @echoesofanartist SINCE U ASKED <3

Basically we don't have a name 4 it yet but it's this very closed off region that was only discovered again recently after having suddenly disappeared 4 years, and so ofc a bunch of researchers and professors immediately went to check out the new Pokemon, but not only did everything in the region look around 1,000 years old, all the pokemon were both extremely violent nd also absolutely terrifying

The whole region is supposed 2 b based off of Transylvania nd all the pokemon r based off of general horror stuff, but we used Lovecraft specifically. Jusr bc my brother rlly likes Lovecraft monsters nd they're fun 2 come up w

First there's the starters, we still need full designs 4 them but this is what we have 4 their first evos so far (fire, water and grass in that order)

They're based off of Fire-Vampires, Deep Ones, and Mi-Go, we gotta come up w names for them soon jewiw. The idea 4 them is they start out as ur fairly cute starters nd then evolve into giant terrifying eldrich-esq creatures that will regularly "accidentally" almost blow ur arm off.

The 3 legendaries r Defantion, Choleodon and Azdramoth, based off of Deagon, Cthulhu and Azathoth (definitely misspelled those), their while story is Defantion was tired of seeing pokemon be hurt by humans so they drove all the humans off the land nd made it completely invisible to anyone who wasn't already there, which is why it was only found again recently, and Choleodon thinks that some humans r good nd they're the one that opened up the island again.

Bc the pokemon here haven't seen actual humans in literally over a thousand years they're just as aggressive as pokemon in Legends Arceus are but now they all look. Fucking terrifying jeneiwnw. Like one of the concepts is a werewolf-type creature that looks like a cute little wolf boy until it unhinges it's jaw to show an uncannily human face.

Ofc the main trainer character like always has 2 fight all the gym leaders, who r mysteriously the only humans that were found on the island, they all talk rlly weird nd seem esp connected 2 their pokemon nd when the trainer character finally meets Choleodon they ask "hey wtf is up w those gym leaders haha" nd Chole goes "oh yeah haha those r all mini legendaries. They just wanted 2 look human why do u think they're so weird". Most of them r just based off miscellaneous other Lovecraft monsters, there's one based off of The King in Yellow, Nyarlathotep, Hypnos (who very specifically is the reason I've decided Hypno will b sorta a big thing on the island along w other pokemon that r similar to Lovecraft gods) etc. My nd my brother just thought this would rlly fun, this gang r also all called Outermon bc we liked the name, ig it's similar 2 how the Ultra Beasts r like. Also There in sun and moon

Anyways so the whole story idea is Chole let's all the humans in nd Defan is Fucking Pissed abt it so it sends the pokemon 2 just attack ppl but the more Trainer Character nd other trainers meet pokemon they're all like "wait these guys r cool actually" which pisses off Defan MORE then u beat them up and they're fine now nd permanently open up the whole island nd then both Defan nd Chole suddenly remember "wait wasn't there another reason we were keeping that closed OH RIGHT OUR SLEEPY SISTER" nd now u have 2 fight Azdramoth who's been asleep 4 years bc if she wakes up she'll b very hungry nd eat the whole world so trainer kid here has 2 VERY QUICKLY get her back 2 sleep but that obviously isn't working so u suddenly remember the Gym Leader/Outermon buddies nd run back 2 them (they're all in their normal Pokemon forms bc Moth waking up also means their powers r weakening nd they can't use their disguises rn) nd get them 2 basically open a portal 2 a sorta dead world where the planets have no life nd Moth gets kicked through so she can eat all the planets she wants w/o murdering millions <3 she comes back all fed nd now everything is fine and cool

[diancie-talks]

New Coat Smell

As we passed through the gate and entered Dendemille Town, the first thing I noticed was that it was snowing, something that I hadn't really experienced much before due to my species' reclusive nature. "W-why am I shaking like t-this? I can't s-stop it" was something I asked in shock of the sudden drop in temperature. Steven responded more casually than I'd think for this situation with a "You're just cold, I'll see if I can find a pokémon center, ah, right there". He promptly pointed towards a white and red building with a poké ball emblem pasted on the centre of its back wall.

During our short walk there, I asked him what a 'pokémon center' was; "Well there are usually a bunch of them spread across each region, and they heal sick or battle-wounded pokémon, free of charge" he answered as we approached the entrance "Wait, am I sick?" "No, but if you stay out in the cold too long, you will be, come on let's go inside". Entering the building, I was shot with a euphoric blast of warm air, it felt so nice after being in that chilly weather. Steven approached the pokémon nurse to heal his newly caught Pawniard and Klefki as I went to lie on the corner couch to warm myself up.

A girl with long dark hair approached me and made a comment on how 'cute' I looked before asking me "are you cold?" to which I answered with a simple "yes" to which she responded how most humans do, in confusion. "Wait, did you just... talk?", "Yes, I can talk, nice to meet you human" I don't think she liked being called 'human' despite me not knowing her name. "My name's Blaire" She seemed nice, so I didn't want to upset her. "I'm so sorry Miss, um, Blaire, I should have asked your name" I don't know if she found that humorous or adorable. "Hehe, you're very cute, and really polite for a pokémon, so I'll help you out." "Help me out?" "You see, I bought a coat a while ago but it doesn't fit my style, too colourful, so instead of throwing it away, I'm giving it to you." She went and brought it out for me, it was a fluffy, ruby-red coat that looked just right for me. "I love it, it's so warm and cozy, thank you!" it was a little longer than I had expected, almost reaching the floor like a dress, but that was fine. Blaire was trying to hide that she was blushing as she said "I'm glad you like it".

She was so nice to me that I had to give her something in return, so I put my hands together and focused my magical energy into a single point, until... a small diamond formed, about the size of a human thumb. I took a moment to catch my breath, my powers are a little exhausting, so I could say "Hey, do you like gems?" and hand it to my acquaintance. "Do I like"-gasp-"This is amazing thank you" I do wonder why humans get so excited over diamonds. Sure, they are pretty, but they're just rocks at the end of the day. "It's the least I could do".

I went back to Steven, who was polishing his Metagross, then he spotted me, "Diancie, where the hell have you been?" This was the first time I'd seen him like this "You seem mad, did I do something wrong?" I pointed towards Blaire "That nice lady just gave me her coat, that she didn't need anymore". It looked like that calmed him down a bit "Gah, you're too cute to shout at, well it looks like you're safe, but don't go wondering off by yourself, y'know there are some people who offer you nice things, but once you get close enough they just grab you and never let go. I don't want to scare you, I just... don't want you getting kidnapped again, for your own sake". I was a little shocked at how seriously he was talking to me, but he was right, I need to be more careful up here. He really looks out for me...